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j_ata's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. Just... wow. Kind of weird—my reaction is not declare Another Country a new favorite, I just didn't love it in that way. And yet, and yet, it penetrated deeply, perhaps more deeply than some books I do consider my favorite...
Perhaps this has to do with how perplexing Baldwin is as an author—it takes a while, almost too much effort to get into the story, and then suddenly, unexpectedly you're in an ever-tightening vice, not sure how the hell Baldwin got you there before you even managed to notice. He certainly has a way with words, beautiful, almost aggressively lyrical without ever being showy; but what his words do have is weight, an almost unbearable density that in some passages seem to weigh so heavily upon the skin, as if their sole purpose is to rip to shreds any layers of resistance, pick apart any and every last defense...
Really, I suppose that's as good a description as any of what Baldwin does to his characters; he flays them alive so their intangible insides—their hopes, fears, secrets, contradictions, prejudices, dreams—are splayed unceremoniously upon dirty Greenwich Village sidewalks and greasy tables in the smoky corners of dive bars for each other to see, to gawk at, to pick ruthlessly at, to take up and wield like weapons to destroy each other, to bind each other closer than ever before...
And to take it one step further—the title kind of demands as much—the same could be said about Baldwin's general examination of America: mercilessly yet lovingly (the oh-so-thin line separating love from hate is a reoccurring preoccupation throughout the book) ripping the American psyche apart. Granted, his focus on a very particular group, mid-to-late 50's Greenwich Village, certainly one of the most socially progressive enclaves in society at that time. But that's almost what makes Baldwin's exposé so very painful—he's unearthing and then brutally exposing the most hidden prejudices of the particular kind (regarding race, gender, class, sexuality) that liberals and artistic types like to think they've managed to exorcise and escape from. Baldwin's indictment of white liberal guilt can be particularly agonizing...
Kind of hopeless (the constant refrain at our first bookclub discussion: "it's amazing how so little has changed..."), but oh, so very necessary. Anybody who claims we live in a post-racial, post-anything era here in America needs to be promptly slapped upside the head with this book.
"Perhaps such secrets, the secrets of everyone, were only expressed when the person laboriously dragged them into the light of the world, imposed them on the world, and made them a part of the world's experience. Without this effort, the secret place was merely a dungeon in which the person perished; without this effort, indeed, the entire world would be an uninhabitable darkness; and she saw, with a dreadful reluctance, why this effort was so rare."
Perhaps this has to do with how perplexing Baldwin is as an author—it takes a while, almost too much effort to get into the story, and then suddenly, unexpectedly you're in an ever-tightening vice, not sure how the hell Baldwin got you there before you even managed to notice. He certainly has a way with words, beautiful, almost aggressively lyrical without ever being showy; but what his words do have is weight, an almost unbearable density that in some passages seem to weigh so heavily upon the skin, as if their sole purpose is to rip to shreds any layers of resistance, pick apart any and every last defense...
Really, I suppose that's as good a description as any of what Baldwin does to his characters; he flays them alive so their intangible insides—their hopes, fears, secrets, contradictions, prejudices, dreams—are splayed unceremoniously upon dirty Greenwich Village sidewalks and greasy tables in the smoky corners of dive bars for each other to see, to gawk at, to pick ruthlessly at, to take up and wield like weapons to destroy each other, to bind each other closer than ever before...
And to take it one step further—the title kind of demands as much—the same could be said about Baldwin's general examination of America: mercilessly yet lovingly (the oh-so-thin line separating love from hate is a reoccurring preoccupation throughout the book) ripping the American psyche apart. Granted, his focus on a very particular group, mid-to-late 50's Greenwich Village, certainly one of the most socially progressive enclaves in society at that time. But that's almost what makes Baldwin's exposé so very painful—he's unearthing and then brutally exposing the most hidden prejudices of the particular kind (regarding race, gender, class, sexuality) that liberals and artistic types like to think they've managed to exorcise and escape from. Baldwin's indictment of white liberal guilt can be particularly agonizing...
Kind of hopeless (the constant refrain at our first bookclub discussion: "it's amazing how so little has changed..."), but oh, so very necessary. Anybody who claims we live in a post-racial, post-anything era here in America needs to be promptly slapped upside the head with this book.
"Perhaps such secrets, the secrets of everyone, were only expressed when the person laboriously dragged them into the light of the world, imposed them on the world, and made them a part of the world's experience. Without this effort, the secret place was merely a dungeon in which the person perished; without this effort, indeed, the entire world would be an uninhabitable darkness; and she saw, with a dreadful reluctance, why this effort was so rare."
cowboylikelyn's review against another edition
emotional
funny
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
cpbird24's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse and Suicide
korrick's review against another edition
4.0
Perhaps now, though, he had hit bottom. One thing about the bottom, he told himself, you can't fall any farther. He tried to take comfort from this thought. Yet there knocked in his heart the suspicion that the bottom did not really exist.Previous to Another Country, all my Baldwin was short and first person, whether nonfiction or otherwise. The work doesn't feel as anachronistic as it did when I started, but still: multiple characters careening over landscapes of fucking and cheating and exiling and killing in a half serious, half soap opera fashion is not a Baldwin I'm familiar with. It's not that it's bad, per se, but that Baldwin applying himself to a formula found more often in pop fiction makes the average specimen of such look even trashier than it did previously. Even the more quality examples fail to measure up in one respect or another, whether it be the tackling of intersecting bigotries, the shaping of the landscapes within a person, or the simple matter of well crafted prose. It's not as if I've been actively seeking out drama-heavy narrative fiction worth my time (the exact opposite, in fact), but even the best of those aren't guaranteed to result in a raising of standards so well supported that I can almost feel the tangible levers and pulleys clicking in my skull to a higher notch. I wouldn't say I knew for a fact reading Baldwin would result in such, but it's always nice when hunches are rewarded.
"I'd like to prove to her—one day," he said; and paused. He looked out of the window. "I'd like to make her know that the world's not as black as she thinks it is."
"Or," she said, dryly, after a moment, "as white."
It was a city without oases, run entirely, insofar, at least, as human perception could tell, for money; and its citizens seemed to have lost entirely any sense of their right to renew themselves.Whiteness. Masculinity. Heteronormativity. Misogynoir. Rape culture. Even a bit of anti-capitalism based on a few quotes if looked at in the proper fashion. The majority of it US-centric, the minority of it equipped with closure, the latter to the point that a user's suggestion that the first 80 or so pages composed a novella made complete sense in a Baldwinesque fashion, home of the short stories and letters and less than 200 page pieces of work. With Baldwin, one usually doesn't question whether something need 'entertain' in a realm whose apolitical nature renders it nonexistent. As such, a reader is free to witness rather than watch, to become enraptured rather than insensate, to cut themselves on the dividing lines that have wound their way from a 1960's writing to a 2010's living rather than to assure themselves that that was then and we have come so much farther now.
All of the people in Ellis' world approached each other under cover of a manner designed to hide whatever they might really be feeling, about each other or about themselves. When confronted with Ida, who was so visibly rejected from the only world they knew, this manner was forced to become relatively personal, self-conscious, and tense. It became entangled with an effort to avoid being called into judgment; with a fear that their spiritual and social promissory notes might suddenly be called up. By being pressed into the service of an impulse that was real, the manner revealed itself as totally false and because it was it was false, it was sinister.For all its positives, AC made the mistake [b:The Memory of Love|7784648|The Memory of Love|Aminatta Forna|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1421228169s/7784648.jpg|10719873] did: the interiority of the white man, the interiority of the black man, the interiority of the white woman, and yet, for whatever reason, the black woman remained an enigma without a chance at the vaunted close third-person perspective. The character in question was hardly silent, but there is a world of difference between hearing one speak and coming so close to a persona as to let the admittance of having participated in a gang rape take on the note of necessary confession. In comparison, sex work receives its usual paint job of shameful titillation, even to the point of implication that it was indirect contact with it, not having committed rape, that caused one character to lose their innocence. A powerful work, but much as I hold authors to a higher standard because of Baldwin, I hold Baldwin to an even higher one because of what else he's written.
He raised his eyes to heaven. He thought, You bastard, you motherfucking bastard. Ain't I your baby, too?
katiepdy's review against another edition
4.0
Baldwin does not play when he sits down to write a book..
shayt's review against another edition
3.0
My thoughts: *beware terrible grammar below*
I think, based on a little research and reading the article attached below, that the characters Vivaldo, Richard, Eric, and Rufus are pieces of Baldwin himself throughout his life. The fact that it took 15 years, I believe he had to search within himself.
Vivaldo - a younger & somewhat present Baldwin (at that time). Heavy drinker, inability to finish novel.
Richard - eventually somewhat successful. Responsible, Privileged.
Eric - confused sexually, struggles with his sexuality. Moved to another country "no pun intended" to create art. On his way to success.
Rufus - broken, suicidal, needing and wanting of love, wanting to please his father. Being with Leona makes it even clearer that he will never be equal to the white man. He will forever be looked upon as suspicious and undeserving in their eyes.
These other characters are more than likely people that Baldwin had been acquainted with in some way or another. Lovers, friends, etc.
Yves- potential life partner
Cass - Liberal, white upper-class privilege, yet tries to understand those around her.
Ida- The explainer of white privilege. Feels doomed yet hopeful. Wants to make a way for herself in a racist society. A realist.
Ellis - white male privilege & uses it fully without regard to anyone else’s feelings.
Joan- typical white woman liberal, artist. (character not fully developed)
Leona - I believe her character was used to show Rufus' realizations of the cruel world around them and how he (man) can take world frustrations out on the very people they are supposed to love.
Great article! https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/02/09/another-country
I think, based on a little research and reading the article attached below, that the characters Vivaldo, Richard, Eric, and Rufus are pieces of Baldwin himself throughout his life. The fact that it took 15 years, I believe he had to search within himself.
Vivaldo - a younger & somewhat present Baldwin (at that time). Heavy drinker, inability to finish novel.
Richard - eventually somewhat successful. Responsible, Privileged.
Eric - confused sexually, struggles with his sexuality. Moved to another country "no pun intended" to create art. On his way to success.
Rufus - broken, suicidal, needing and wanting of love, wanting to please his father. Being with Leona makes it even clearer that he will never be equal to the white man. He will forever be looked upon as suspicious and undeserving in their eyes.
These other characters are more than likely people that Baldwin had been acquainted with in some way or another. Lovers, friends, etc.
Yves- potential life partner
Cass - Liberal, white upper-class privilege, yet tries to understand those around her.
Ida- The explainer of white privilege. Feels doomed yet hopeful. Wants to make a way for herself in a racist society. A realist.
Ellis - white male privilege & uses it fully without regard to anyone else’s feelings.
Joan- typical white woman liberal, artist. (character not fully developed)
Leona - I believe her character was used to show Rufus' realizations of the cruel world around them and how he (man) can take world frustrations out on the very people they are supposed to love.
Great article! https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/02/09/another-country
olchefdan's review against another edition
2.0
Joyless bohemians - why? If you're going to spend every waking minute, drinking, fucking, and going to clubs, shouldn't you at least enjoy some of it? Wouldn't the sense of suffering and injustice cut deeper (for the reader) if there was a sense that there was something to enjoy?
Only Eric and Yves seem capable of getting any pleasure from life. When they appear, it's a relief. And it even seems to be a relief for Baldwin. He enjoys them as well.
Vivaldo, the unhappy struggling writer observing this mess, compares the typing of his unborn novel to moving through the NYC humidity - sticky and plodding. Eric and Yves, in the salty and breezy Mediterranean, give Another Country some light, lightness, and life. Everyone else desperately needs some air.
Only Eric and Yves seem capable of getting any pleasure from life. When they appear, it's a relief. And it even seems to be a relief for Baldwin. He enjoys them as well.
Vivaldo, the unhappy struggling writer observing this mess, compares the typing of his unborn novel to moving through the NYC humidity - sticky and plodding. Eric and Yves, in the salty and breezy Mediterranean, give Another Country some light, lightness, and life. Everyone else desperately needs some air.
vicenteferreira's review against another edition
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
4.0
katep27's review against another edition
2.0
2/5stars
disclaimer i skim read this and only really read important sections because i'm ovERWHELMED BY SCHOOL READING AND THAT'S THE PRICE THAT HAS TO BE PAID WHEN I HAVE TO READ 4-5 BOOKS A WEEK OKAY
disclaimer i skim read this and only really read important sections because i'm ovERWHELMED BY SCHOOL READING AND THAT'S THE PRICE THAT HAS TO BE PAID WHEN I HAVE TO READ 4-5 BOOKS A WEEK OKAY
ginkgotree's review against another edition
4.0
James Baldwin's writing is utterly gorgeous. It's interesting, reading this book, to see what has changed and what has not. Relationships between men and women are not quite the same now as they were in 1960, and attitudes towards homosexuality have changed quite a bit, but when it comes to race, we have not come nearly as far. Though it takes place in a very specific time and place - especially evident from the characters' dialogue - in some ways this book feels timeless.